The Committee succeeded in collecting circa 215,000 signatures endorsing the draft law from across Poland in three months (minimum number is 100,000). The Sejm, the lower chamber of Parliament, now has three months to initiate debate on the bill.
The civic initiative "Save the Women" is a response to an extremely repressive anti-abortion bill aimed at banning abortion in Poland even when it is necessary to save the life of a woman, which was tabled in Parliament by fundamentalist groups several weeks ago. This law may soon be adopted by Law and Justice (PiS), the radical, right-wing ruling party, who current have an absolute majority.
Nevertheless, the activists working for liberalization of the abortion law hope for a serious parliamentary debate, based on evidence and rational arguments, which demonstrates the serious negative consequences of the current anti-abortion law for women's lives and health.
Thus, the Parliament will have to consider both bills in the autumn. It will then be seen whether, under the rule of PiS, women will regain some of their rights or lose what few rights still remain to them.
